Learn the origin story of Chicago’s pothole artist

If you’ve seen a Chicago pothole filled with old world, mosaic tile artwork – yet depicting something modern like a pair of hot sauce packets or a pack of Marlboro cigarettes – it was probably the creation of Jim Bachor.

“I’ve found that my goal in life is to drag the artform of the mosaic kicking and screaming into the 21st century,” Bachor said.

Bachor tells Rundown podcast host Erin Allen how a tour guide in Pompeii kickstarted his obsession with mosaics, why both the durability and the restrictions of the medium are reasons he loves it, and why he started installing his artwork in Chicago potholes.

“I got to thinking,” he said, “I’ve got this reoccuring problem outside of the house that can’t be fixed, and then a hundred yards away in my studio in the basement here I am passionately working on this artform that is so durable, why don’t I combine them?”

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